Hans Kessler: “I would like to thank all members who took part in choosing the name. I would also like to thank everyone who did their part in the background to ensure that we now have an area in our stadium that represents the close connection between the club, the Böllenfalltor location and of course the Lilien family. The curve also symbolises that you can only shape the future if you know the past.”
Rüdiger Fritsch: “We are proud that the curve bears the name of our honorary president Hans Kessler, to whom we as a club owe a lot. We are delighted that we have made a piece of SV 98’s contemporary history visible to future generations of Lily fans. The old steps and breakwaters including the Dugena clock from the pre-renovation period are not only a journey into the past, but also a reminder of the path SV Darmstadt 98 has taken in the recent past without losing its values and ideals . Many thanks at this point for the efforts of many helpers in the background of this project – on behalf of Peter Schmidt from our council of elders and in particular Mr Andreas Schlossarek and Wolfgang Haubach for the work on the clock.”
Hanno Benz: “This place with so much history creates identity with the city and will function as a meeting place for fans in the future. There couldn’t have been a better name for the curve. Thank you on behalf of the city of Darmstadt for naming it.”
Last year, SV 98 called on its members, including the fan advisory board, to vote on the name of the nostalgia corner, and the name “Hans-Kessler-Kurve” prevailed with a large majority in the online vote. At the end of July, work began on this area directly next to one of the time-honored floodlight masts. Andreas Schlossarek and Wolfgang Haubach from the Darmstadt association Makerspace painstakingly repaired the Dugena clock with the help of Peter Schmidt’s council of elders. Continuous operation in practice must now show how reliably the historic clock will run.
